This is a road I take in Utica, Montana when I go to visit a very good friend of mine who lives a few miles up from this house. I have driven by the old homestead many times and it always found this to be a rather unusual place that did not seem to make sense to me. It seemed like they could not decide which way the house should face. I never really gave it too much thought as I drove by this place so often when I lived in Montana and soon it just became normal.

This past winter I returned to Montana to visit my old stomping grounds and catch up with friends. I had not been back for 4 years so it was a feast for my eyes to see what was everyday become fascinating to me. I was especially attracted to old abandoned places and decide to start photographing them with the intention of making a photo book of these places someday.

So as my friend Susan drove me around from one old place to the next, as we passed this one she told me something I never realized. She said when many of the homesteader's had to abandon their homes due to hard times, sometimes the remaining residence would go and move their buildings and just add them on to theirs so the could have more room. She told me this house was a good example of that. That is why this home goes in so many directions and has so many sections. The original owners just kept adding the homes of others who had left.

So it all made sense to me as to why this place looked so pieced together, because it was. I often wonder what happened to the people who lived here as they too fell victim to the rough life Montana will surely send your way.

I have to admit, we had our struggles and gave up also. The people who are born and raised in Montana are tough, innovated, and determined. But they have never experienced anything else but just taking what life throws at you. For us who came and tried to make Montana our home, you come realize it will give you much, but takes a lot in return. I hate to admit that we were another falling residence that just was not tough enough to stick it out. Well let me put it another way...my husband is the one that just did not think the struggle was worth the pain. I would still live there if I was only my decision.